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Think Secret's Nick dePlume Revealed
Nick dePlume has a name, after all. Apple filed a lawsuit against the pseudonymous founder and editor of Think Secret, who correctly predicted two just-announced Apple products and has been the subject of several cease-and-desist letters from Apple in the past; dePlume's identity has now been revealed. Reader willibeast writes "The Harvard Crimson reports that 'Apple Computer, Inc. is suing a Harvard undergraduate who runs a popular Mac information website for disclosing details about unreleased Apple products, including two unveiled at this week's Macworld conference. Nineteen-year-old Nicholas M. Ciarelli '08, known on the internet as Nick dePlume, has run the site, thinksecret.com, since age 13.'"
What Apple should be doing is finding out who is suppling Nick with this information. He isnt just pulling this stuff out of his ass.
Great public relations coup, Mr. Jobs.
Remember when you and the Woz were just kids in a garage?
Apparently not...
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
There is nothing wrong with this. He isn't the one violating any laws. He never signed an NDA. Matt Drudge does this exact same thing, if you look at the news submission box in the lower right of drudgereport.com.
Tell me, Apple (or rather article author even). You're worried about market advantage 'being measured in nanoseconds'.
:(
I can see no case where disclosing information a week early would do irreperable harm to the company.
Sure, you could argue customers will hold off buying products if they know the next generation is around the corner, but I tell ya....you're an idiot to buy ANY Apple products directly before a MacWorld expo.
If you're going to buy, you buy directly after an upgrade. Or at least wait until the next expo comes around.
So far as the competition...sure, I suppose a Dell or an HP could counter the MacMini, or the iPod Shuffle or whatnot, but really.
I can't help but think Apple is suing over an issue of pride. They want to know who the leak is, so they're going after the person posting the information from the leak(s).
That being said: I hate lawsuits. Period.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
How did he induce these people to provide tips? It is not like a college undergrad is going to pay people off. Apple really contradicts themselves when later they blame the ability of people to place "anonymous" tips on his website. Doesn't sound like they are being "induced" but rather lured by the option to remain anonymous.
True, I think it is wrong that employees are violating their C.A.'s, but it is not Ciarelli's fault. Find the employees that do it, and fire them. Don't go after a kid that discovers where you leak...
Pretty much what I think it is also. But its not like Nick will have too much of a problem finding a lawyer or two that will do this pro bono. I would think there is one or two .. or huge boat loads of lawyers or soon to be lawyers running around Harvard. Great second semester assignment if you ask me. Would be fun to walk into a court room with 50+ lawyers.
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
Get your priorities straight QuantumG.
If you want to complain about what Apple is doing, restricting free speech is the wrong target. Apple is protecting itself, legally, forthrightly, and up front, according to the law.
Someone violated an NDA to tell Nick DePlume these 'trade secrets'.
Apple is trying to get out of Nick DePlume the identities of those who violated those NDAs.
To put it abstractly, Apple and a third party signed a contract. Said third party violated the contract without Apple's knowledge. Apple finds out about the violation from Nick DePlume. Apple then tries to find out from Nick DePlume who violated the contract.
If there is anything scummy in what Apple is doing, it's in not being gentler and more friendly towards 19 year old Nick, but that's not what you're complaining about.
GPL Deconstructed
so wait a second..
i'll post my OWN trade secret to some guys mailing list and then I can sue him in the states? wtf you need patents for when you have such more powerful tool in your portfolio then, why bother patenting anything when you can just say that it's your trade secret and forbid anyone from talking about it?
someone 'published' the information to him - or are all the websites that reported on this quilty? would slashdot be quilty if i posted my own trade secrets on slashdot?
or maybe he'll just say that he pulled it out of his ass and say that "look, i've made so many predictions that at least once in 10 years i'm going to be right about something".
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
would slashdot be [g]uilty if i posted my own trade secrets on slashdot?
If you divulge your own trade secret it is no longer a trade secret. If you divulge somebody else's trade secret you've broken the law. This entire situation is dependant on the assumption that the informant who sent the trade secret to Think Secret was not authorized to divulge the information. If that isn't the case, neither the informant nor Think Secret has done anything wrong. It would be pretty hard to prove either way...
And the idea that a journalist can be ordered to reveal his source of information is against the first ammendment.
Is it now? Where specifically in the First Amendment does it mention anything about journalists protecting sources? The First Amendment proscribes government interference with the freedom of the press - it does not give the press a magic pass to avoid any and all consequences of something they may report. According to your reasoning, if I publish your entire credit and medical history online, I should be able to do so without any fear of repercussions, and furthermore it would be your fault for not protecting your information better. Give me a break.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Whether pre-announcing a product is to a company's advantage largely depends on that company's position in the marketplace. Microsoft now pre-announces products because doing so tends to "freeze the market", because companies will often hold off on buying an existing third-party product that Microsoft will be shipping "real soon now". Microsoft often uses pre-announcements as a form of FUD to solidify their market position.
A company in Apple's position has a different calculation to make. Certain pre-announcements are just going to tell companies with greater resources (like Microsoft) what innovations they should start copying.
Companies that aren't the market leader will often play their cards close to the vest, just so their bigger competitors don't figure out a strategy to beat their hand. When Microsoft was a small shop, they weren't crowing from the rooftops about Windows 1.0 months before it was released. It wouldn't have been to their advantage, because they didn't have the dominance they do now. Things have changed.
Shame on Google.